Persian2English – There are reportedly 35 Sunni Kurdish men who are in imminent danger of execution in Karaj’s Rajai Shahr Prison based on forced confessions extracted from them under torture. Their names are listed at the end of this report. According to close sources, one of the prisoners, Barzan Nasrollahzadeh, was under the age of 18 at the time of his arrest.

The death sentences were all recently issued by branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, presided by the corrupt judge known as Moghiseh. All 35 men were reportedly subjected to severe physical and psychological torture to confess to the vague charges of “Moharebeh (enmity against God)”, “Acting against national security”, and “Propaganda against the system”. According to close sources, the men attempted to explain in court that their confessions were false and extracted under torture, insisting that their activities were peaceful and included: preaching in public places such as mosques and universities, participating in religious meetings, distributing religious books and CDs, funding religious ceremonies, and providing seminary courses. The men were reportedly denied legal representation and did not have a lawyer present when Judge Moghiseh used their forced confessions to sentence them to death.

The Sunni Kurdish prisoners praying in the prison’s courtyard. They are in imminent danger of execution.

Sunni Kurdish prisoners have had extremely painful experiences in detention. They are psychologically and physically tortured during horrifying interrogation sessions, and then, while broken and beat down, they are thrown into solitary confinement cells for long periods of time.

The types of tortures the 35 prisoners on death row have reportedly been subjected to thus far include: being hanged from the ceiling, having their bones broken, being injected with poisonous drugs, having heavy weights hung on their testicles, being left outside in cold temperatures for long periods of time, threats of rape, severe lashes, electric shocks, mock executions, long term imprisonment in solitary confinement, and beatings to sensitive areas (head, neck, spine, stomach, shin, knee, back of knee).

Despite how alarming and worrying the situation is for these 35 political prisoners, the international community- including the media and human rights groups- have failed to report on their plight or draw global attention to the systematic persecution of Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities.